5C's Que Pasa

The car is fabulous…..the new driver not so much.

I am not used to such a large vehicle and learning to drive within the lines was a wee challenge 😯   Thank goodness for Colin, I did get through the first drive into Kelowna.  So many things to think of and also wonder why there is a blinking orange light on the side mirrors.  Which by the way have heaters as does the steering wheel.  I did however expect and was grateful for the heated seats as our typical July heat is nowhere to be seen.  Now the navigation system which includes GPS was not on my list of things I wanted to deal with.  I soon discovered that I did need it to be turned on if only to see how I set the heat or A/C within the vehicle.  Just maybe I might learn that aspect of things.  I do love the backup camera.  I never was great at backing up properly but now I might become a whiz.

I soon was on overload, more to discover and especially tomorrow.

Of course the car passed the Canadian Tire provincial inspection.  However Canadian Tire failed my vehicle tolerance level.  Whoever did the work and inspection managed to add grease marks to the driver rocker panel as well as the carpet in two areas.  I noticed it immediately as we entered the Lexus.  I returned to the front desk where she sent someone to fix the damage.  He applied two different chemicals which increased the mess exponentially.  Next up we brought in the top service manager who informed us that that obviously it had always looked like that.  Colin explained that we would never have purchased such a dirty  vehicle.  I only wish that I had taken a photo of the large grease spots before the attempts to remove it had begun.  It was obvious that we were not going to get anywhere so we left but we had the managers’ word that he would pay for anyone being able to restore the area.  Needless to say I was crushed.

It was a long 5 hours but we did get the car inspected, passed and finally registered here in BC. Amazingly it was only $56.00 more that what I had insured the Z3 for till the end of October.

Once we got home, Colin got out some cleaning supplies and had that area of the car looking brand new again within 30 minutes.  I think I am going to give the Canadian Tire head office a call in the morning.  I do not like being called a liar and treated so harshly.  We knew the car was clean when we dropped it off and I really resented the attitude I had to deal with.

The car looks great and tomorrow I off to an appointment on my very own.  Gulp!

Life is short……enjoy every moment 😛

… I haven’t yet driven it 😯

Here she comes.

Alberta only provided a from point A to point B ‘In Transit’ sticker even though we have temporary binding insurance for seven days.  Next step is to get a BC permit for one day to use the vehicle here, from the provincial ICBC office.  I did get that this morning by using Colin’s car before he left for work this morning.  However it is only good for tomorrow.  I certainly don’t want to take the car out on my own for the first time as there are so some many bells and whistles that I just might hit the eject button in error.  I did  test drive a local car last week so I know how it feels.

It is an RX350 Lexus.

So tomorrow morning we are off together to Canadian Tire to get the out of province vehicle inspection which can take from 60- 90 minutes.  We have no doubt that it will pass with flying colors.  Next step is to take it back to the insurance office where they will visually check the VIN number and then finally issue me my registration papers.  Then I am good to go.  Some money does have to transfer hands even though I am transferring my Z3 insurance to this car.

Colin took these 3 photos at the final home he was shooting just outside of Calgary.  He really enjoyed driving the car and thinks it will be perfect for me.

To find an RX350 with this gold exterior and having a parchment interior is next to impossible.  There are very few in existence and this one is almost new and in pristine condition with only 44000 kms on it.  Our good friends Ken and Margot who used to live here and now reside in Victoria have the identical vehicle but with a burgundy exterior and they love it.

It is going to be a real pleasure learning to enjoy all the features.  The car comes with the Ultra Premium Package 2 which includes all you can think of and more.  Things that we never knew even existed in a vehicle.  It even has the rear seat DVD entertainment package.  I guess we could get the 101 Dalmations movie for the girls to enjoy.  Everyday that I drive it, I will be reminded of how fortunate I am to be here enjoying life each and every moment of a new day.

Hey, it even fits in the driveway.

Looking forward to driving it tomorrow.  And no George, I won’t be drinking any wine when I’m driving it.

It has been a very long day, waiting to see Colin as well as my new car.  There was a power outage yesterday for 4 hours so he could not do photography on a home interior.  It was caused by the same storm that created the lightening that hit the Westjet flight.   So he had to finish early this morning and he didn’t leave the Calgary area until about 10:30AM.  Good news is that he loves driving the car.

It’s raining way back there. Love the cloud colors.

About mid May my nails suddenly turned yellow similar to this photo. Mine are not quite as deep a yellow at the tips.  I have no idea what the cause is and my blood work is normal.   I don’t wear fingernail polish so it is not from that.  Anyone have any ideas?

Yesterday morning we had a severe storm. I truly was frightened as the water off the lake was coming up in sheets and hitting the house and full wall of windows.  You can see in this photo that all the branches of the tree have been blown to one side.  The worst of the storm was over in about 20 minutes but it still managed to get my heart pumping.  The water going down the rain chain was being blown horizontally.

The fellow who bought my Z3, driving away from the insurance company with a huge grin on his face.

Despite living with ramps everywhere for a full year now, Caeli is still timid going down and up.  Often she stops and mews, yes mews, and we have to tell her ‘go Caeli go’ before she moves.  At least 12 times per day.

I almost forgot to tell you about the bat.  We had a bat flying around inside our house for at least two days that I know of.  Fortunately it slept during the day.  I first noticed what I thought were mouse droppings all over the living room near the windows and was surprised as the girls are great mousers but they never let us know.  Later that night we were relaxing in our recliners watching TV when something swooped over our heads.  It went past a few times and be both saw the bat.  Not mouse turds but those of a bat.  Not sure which is worse but they are both truly horrid.  We turned the lights out and opened the front door and the patio door.  We shut the girls away in the bedroom once we were certain the bat wasn’t in there.  No way was I sleeping with a bat. We also checked the bathroom and closed it off.  Everything else in our home is one open area.  Colin and I took turns watching for it to leave.  Finally a few hours later we went to bed and left the doors open as well as the screens.  I was worried that we would attract a racoon or worse.  Come the morning I found no further droppings so we have to assume that batman vacated the premises.

Late afternoon yesterday, the weather improved enough for these folks to get out onto the lake.  Not often you see a row boat out there.

A quick follow up  on the bear story I posted about last week.  Sadly the wildlife officers tranquilized the bear while it was up the tree and then it fell to the ground.  It was injured in the fall and had to be euthanized.  Very sad ending to the situation.

At first I thought the group was together but the boat went in a different direction.

Still waiting for Colin and car.  The girls are sleeping.  Time to pour a glass of chilled vino blanco and cuddle up with a book.

The weather has been more wet than normal for this time of year.  Not fun at all.

But it’s great if you are a duck.

Mother Nature puts on a great show.  All natural lighting.  It was amazing to watch the changing colors.

We are so fortunate to have views like this.

Perfection.

These photos were taken about ten days ago.

Life is good. Remembering my Mom who passed away three years ago tomorrow July 10th.

……and counting 🙄

The original plan was for Colin to leave very early Friday morning, check out the new car and if he was satisfied pay for it and come back home.  Somehow  he landed a job in Calgary for Thursday which them morphed into another home to photograph on Friday.  This was an extremely new client that he done his first job for this past July 2.  A beach home in Mara lake, about 90 minutes from here.  The realtor who lives in Calgary loved his work.

He landed in Calgary at 8:15AM Thursday, rented a car and worked nonstop from 10AM till 11:30PM.  The client even texted him at 2AM.  He finished the first home staring at 7AM Friday.  Being 7800 sq ft, it took some time.  He did get a break midday Friday when he drove over the dealership to check out the car.  It took two test drives, lots of extra TLC on certain areas of the vehicle and some back and forth negotiation and finally the deal was done and I now have a car.  Except it is in Calgary, an 8 hour drive away.

Meanwhile we received an email from the client asking for the photos from todays home to be photoshoped and sent to her by end of Saturday???  How is that possible if Colin is spending all of Saturday driving back here to Kelowna?

As Colin was leaving the dealership with my new car earlier this afternoon,  he got a call from the client, she now has yet another ‘large’ home to photograph tomorrow, Saturday.  That means that he won’t be leaving until Sunday morning 🙁  He does have to come back Sunday as he has a full day shoot Monday with one of our main clients.  Well at least I hope he plans to return.

I have now changed our appointment for the out of province inspection 3 times now.  We legally only have so many days to get this completed and then get the car registered here in BC and we are getting close to the deadline.  Always drama in our lives.  Needless to say that as of 7PM I have not yet iced or used heat.  Colin is worse off, he has not had anything to eat yet today.  The homeowner yesterday fed him all day but nada today.  I think he will soon be diving into the nuts I sent with him and the granola bars. He sort of is short of clean underwear although he did take a few extra 😳

We aren’t complaining but it is comical.  The girls however are becoming unsettled.  Other than Colin’s annual visit to the music festival in Culican, Mexico he is never ever away from us this long. Three nights and four long days, we miss him.

Meanwhile our Sandpiper continues to hang around. I saw his kids again today ( they move too fast to get a photo ).  I suspect that the nest may well be within our cedar hedge.

He appears to be rather tame and not bothered at all by Caeli.

I really should start exercising more.